Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blistering attack on the Congress in Rajya Sabha Wednesday, calling it “the biggest opponent of the Constitution”, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “the truth is BJP-RSS, Jan Sangh and their political forefathers had fiercely opposed the Constitution”. While the Opposition claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were fought on the issue of “protecting the Constitution”, Modi recalled that people voted on that plank in the 1977 general elections after the Emergency was lifted. However, during PM's address on the Motion of Thanks on President’s address, the Opposition, led by the Congress, staged a walkout after Kharge was not allowed to intervene during Modi's speech. They gathered at the gate of the old Parliament building, the Samvidhan Sadan. Besides Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress CPP chairperson and Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi and P Chidambaram, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, TMC’s Sagarika Ghose and Sushmita Dev, JMM’s Mahua Maji, RJD’s Manoj Jha and Shiv Sena-UBT's Priyanka Chaturvedi were also present. Kharge claimed that during the address of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi and other ministers had interrupted. “If what we have to say is not heard, then why should we hear… When Rahul Gandhi spoke, PM Narendra Modi got up twice to clarify. Four ministers clarified. When I spoke, attempts were made to interrupt. Today, why didn’t we get even a minute to intervene during the PM’s address,” said Kharge. “I was raising my hand and the members of the INDIA bloc parties were standing to draw the attention of the Chairman (Jagdeep Dhankhar). I requested the PM many times, but he too ignored it. All the lies he has spoken, I have it with me. They are experts in speaking lies,” Kharge said. “The truth is,” he said, “Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had given the credit of drafting the Constitution to the Congress.” He quoted what was published in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser from November 30, 1949: “there is no mention of the unique constitutional developments in ancient Bharat”. “They had opposed and rejected the Constitution and now, they are talking about protecting it. They have been anti-Constitution since the beginning,” he said. INDIA ally AAP member in the Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh said that the BJP “is tearing apart the Constitution by occupying the Parliament” and that “it is running the House as per its whims”. “In Rajya Sabha, during LoP Mallikarjun Khargeji’s speech, the BJP members protested many times. When I was addressing, the BJP began shouting. The opposition leaders were repeatedly stopped, but today the LoP was not allowed to speak even for a minute during the PM's speech,” said Singh. TMC’s Dev said the BJP has shown disrespect to the constitutional post of the leader of Opposition. In a post on X, she said, “A saga of lies in the address of the Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha. The opposition cannot be expected to sit through such a speech without a single opportunity to intervene. BJP has shown utter disregard for the constitutional post of the LOP and remains dictatorial towards the opposition who sit in the house owing to their mandate and not at the mercy of the Treasury benches."
